A Nigerian-born Catholic nun who has served nearly two decades in south Texas was detained by ICE while walking to Sunday Mass in June, and the head of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley says the experience has left her and the immigrant families she serves shaken to the core.

Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley and a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, told EWTN's "News In Depth" on July 31 that Sister Leticia "Letty" Ugboaja remains emotionally rattled weeks after agents took her into custody on June 28 near McAllen, Texas. Ugboaja, a nurse and member of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, was wearing her religious habit and heading to church when ICE officers stopped her. She was released only after parish officials publicized her arrest on social media and members of Congress intervened, AP News reported.

Pimentel said she first learned of the detention from a local priest and immediately reached out to an ICE official she knew personally. Her priority, she told host Catherine Hadro, was simple.

"My most immediate concern was that she needed somebody by her side."

The case raises uncomfortable questions, not about whether immigration law should be enforced, but about whether the enforcement machinery can distinguish between a nun who has followed every legal requirement and the people it was built to pursue. As Pimentel put it: "We must be able to distinguish the difference."

An immigration judge already ruled she cannot safely return to Nigeria

Ugboaja's legal history is central to understanding why her detention drew such sharp attention. In 2019, an immigration judge denied her asylum application. But that same judge granted her protection from removal to Nigeria under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, a legal finding that she would likely face torture if sent back to her home country. That protection remains in effect.

Her attorney, Carlos Garcia, has stated that Ugboaja holds a valid work permit and has complied with every immigration requirement imposed on her. She attended an immigration check-in at the ICE field office in Harlingen, Texas, on July 28, accompanied by both Pimentel and Garcia. The case has drawn attention to questions about hard questions surrounding ICE's detention of the nun that remain unanswered.

Despite the legal protections, Ugboaja still faces the possibility of removal to a third country, though no specific country has been publicly identified, and the details of that risk remain unclear.

Ugboaja told a press conference she was denied Mass and Communion in custody

At a press conference following her release, Ugboaja described the experience in terms that carry particular weight within Catholic communities. EWTN replayed her remarks during the July 31 interview.

"It was very, very heartbreaking for me. Can I go to Mass? Can I just attend Mass? Can I receive Communion? And the answer was no."

For a woman who has spent nearly two decades in religious ministry in the Diocese of Brownsville, being barred from the sacraments while in government custody struck at the center of her vocation. In her first public remarks about the arrest, Ugboaja told AP News she had been bewildered by what was happening to her.

"Honestly, in that moment, I did not understand what was going on, what was happening to me."

Pimentel, who has worked with immigrant communities along the border for years, described Ugboaja as a "beautiful person" blindsided by the encounter. The broader context of how the Justice Department has strengthened religious liberty guidance makes the treatment of a religious figure in federal custody all the more striking.

"Knowing her, she's such a beautiful person. She was walking to church, and the last thing in her mind was that somebody was just going to take her and change her life this way."

Pimentel says fear has spread through immigrant parishes across the diocese

The fallout extends well beyond Ugboaja herself. Pimentel told EWTN that priests across the Diocese of Brownsville have contacted her about growing anxiety among immigrant Catholic families, families who now fear that even attending Sunday Mass could expose them to arrest.

She relayed the kind of calls she has been receiving from local clergy:

"Norma, please help me. One of our families, one of their mothers... they're all frightened."

Pimentel did not claim that anyone has actually been detained at or near a church for attending Mass. But the perception of risk, she said, is enough to keep people away from the pews.

"It's so sad to hear that, the fact that people are afraid to go to church."

Even Ugboaja, who has resumed daily Mass and returned to serving her community, has not fully recovered. Pimentel said she watched the nun become visibly distressed at the press conference where she first spoke publicly about the detention.

"I think she's a strong woman that is trying her best to put this behind her. But I noticed that even the day of the press conference, she became overwhelmed with fear."

The incident is not the only recent case of ICE arresting religious figures in Texas. In a separate case, two pastors were arrested at a Texas airport after overstaying their religious visas by four years, a case where the legal violations were far more clear-cut than Ugboaja's situation.

Ugboaja called for attention to others in similar legal limbo

What separates Ugboaja's case from the typical immigration enforcement debate is the legal terrain she occupies. She was not caught crossing the border illegally. She was not an absconder. An immigration judge found she would face torture if returned to Nigeria and granted her formal protection under international law. Her attorney says she has a work permit and has met every requirement the government placed on her.

And yet she was taken off the street while walking to church.

Ugboaja herself, in her public remarks, pointed beyond her own case. She urged attention to others who live in a similar gray zone, people who have some form of legal protection but no permanent resolution.

"There are many others in this same situation, people who have been given some form of protection under our laws, who have followed every rule asked of them, and who still live with uncertainty."

Pimentel echoed that call, arguing that the immigration system needs clearer legal pathways for people who contribute to their communities and comply with the law. The question of how Catholic leaders and governments balance enforcement with religious freedom has drawn attention from the Vatican as well, with Pope Leo XIV recently invoking Scripture to champion migrants while drawing a pointed contrast with U.S. enforcement practices.

"I think those legal pathways need to be established, for certain individuals that present themselves as something that contributes good to our country."

ICE has not explained why agents detained a nun with legal protections

One of the most conspicuous gaps in this story is the silence from ICE itself. No public statement explaining why agents detained a woman who held court-ordered protection from removal and a valid work permit has surfaced. The length of her detention has not been disclosed. The specific legal basis for the stop remains unknown.

That silence matters. Conservatives who support strong immigration enforcement, and there are good reasons to, should be the first to demand that the system work with precision. Detaining a compliant, legally protected nun on her way to Mass does not make the border more secure. It makes enforcement look careless, and it hands critics of border security a story they will use for years.

Accountability runs in every direction. If ICE agents made a mistake, the agency should say so. If the detention was lawful, the agency should explain why. Silence invites the worst assumptions and erodes the credibility that enforcement agencies need to do the difficult, necessary work of securing the border.

A system that cannot tell the difference between a nun with a work permit and a fugitive alien is a system that needs fixing, not abandoning, but fixing. The people who care most about law and order should care most about getting this right.